Pubdate: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 Source: LSU Reveille (LA Edu) Copyright: 2004, LSU Reveille Contact: http://www.lsureveille.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2879 Author: Robert Sharpe Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n615/a12.html DRUG WAR HAS BIG WINNERS, LOSERS Regarding Bradley Aldrich's 4/20 column, the drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. Punitive marijuana laws have little, if any, deterrent value. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that uses its criminal justice system to punish citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to many Americans. In subsidizing the prejudices of culture warriors, the U.S. government is subsidizing organized crime. The drug war's distortion of immutable laws of supply and demand make an easily grown weed literally worth its weight in gold. The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers on confusing drug prohibition's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. The big losers in this battle are the American taxpayers deluded into believing big government is the appropriate response to non-traditional consensual vices. Students who want to help end the intergenerational culture war, otherwise known as the war on some drugs, should contact Students for Sensible Drug Policy at www.ssdp.org Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake